Diary of a Failed Game Designer

I have been giving this some thought, what do players do in a game that makes the game a role-playing game?   And furthermore, how can narration be tied into fantasy sports games? There is a ton of ways to look at this question, but I think for me the best way to approach it is to define games that are definitely not role playing games. Board games like Blood bowl, Decent, or Zombiecide are not role playing games. In those game players move pieces, use some kind of tactics, to determine the outcome of the game either vs. the game or vs. other players. There is no attempt to force the perspective of the pieces on the player, and there is no attempt to weave and kind of narrative. The new wave of group story telling games, are not role playing games. Games like “Once upon a time,” “Project Ninja Panda Taco (PNPT)” would fall into these categories nicely. These games make you take the stance of story creator more than of a character. Using (PNPT) for an example, it is a bang up good time

INTRO: Here is the process I used. I played the game solo and wrote it as I played just like I narrated it in my head.. It is DARK AS FUCK.. especially in the end when it was clear to me I was going to loose. Honestly it's slightly disturbing , cause I don't like horror, and I don't write that way (if at all.) It left me with a bad feeling when I was done, but I felt something , so that's better than a game that leaves you feeling nothing. In a group it might get more silly , like the goonies.. but as a solo play it was kind of hard to see my character fall apart in front of me. My brain was left to it's own devices to think about what this character must be going through mentally, and it was not a good place to be. bad rolling was my undoing. The dice and the cards determined every element of the story. I had not idea what I wanted to do when I started. So here you go .. You have been warned. SOLO PLAY TEST STARTS HERE: Down on old mill road actual solo play Charac